Part of the responsibility facing Certain Affinity, and all
developers that specialize in multiplayer, is the intense relationship players
have with the modes and maps they play. Unlike single-player games, which are
experienced once or perhaps a few times, multiplayer games are experienced
again and again. They are lived. They are also very public testing grounds for
people who take their skills very, very seriously.
Not only, but also, through map-editors like Forge, have players
understood the fundamentals of multiplayer level design. Ten years ago, players
might have enjoyed a multiplayer map, without stopping to think about the subtleties
of sight blocks and cover positions.
Hoberman says, “We’re very aware of the gravity of our
responsibility. We're creating this content that people are going to play time
and time again, sometimes thousands of times, for one map or one game mode. It
feels like a massive responsibility. We mandate internally that we play this
stuff over and over. We have to be fans of our own work and we have to put it
to the test day in and day out.
“We insist that our developers participate in daily play tests. It can
be tough. Our artists, for instance, they have a big to-do list, but we make
them take an hour out of their day to play test. We think that's invaluable.
Fans are going to pick these things apart. They're passionate about every
detail. It's critical that everyone working on these things is also passionate
about every detail and understands how these things are going to be experienced
by the players.”
He points out that in single-player modes, the story embraces the
player as well as the characters in the game, but only the actual player is
having a real emotional experience. But in multiplayer, it’s about everyone who
is on screen. Are these weapons or master chief armor can make you win? No!
“When you're
designing campaign levels, you're inherently designing something asymmetrical.
You're designing for the player. You don't need to care about how the enemies
feel. You don't need to care about how the Covenant feels about their
experience. When you're designing multiplayer, you have to care about
everybody.